When you see breathtaking views like this, you can certainly appreciate Bible verses like, "I will lift up my eyes to the hills -- from whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1-2 is one of my many favorite mountain verses. Views like this inspire me more than any other natural scene on earth. Being under the thick canopy of fir trees, feeling the crisp air filter down to the soft bed of needles or the crunchy snow gets into my very bones and makes me feel like there's a whole other side to life that I'm missing out on. Rather than refreshing me to come back and face daily life with renewed zeal, it haunts me the way a good dream does, one that is so lovely that to wake up is to break your heart. This is certainly not the first time I have been to the mountains or the Pacific Northwest; in fact, in my travel journal I wrote:
The Pacific Northwest remains one of my most favorite places in America. The natural scenery, the mountains, the delicate wildflowers, the lush green gerns, and the weather all call to me like an old friend that I had forgotten about.
These little wild mountain violets blessed my socks off. They were the only color splashed on a landscape of fir needles where the snow had only recently melted. These delicate little fellows would never have withstood the intense Texas heat, but they boldly proclaimed their presence in a world washed with hues of browns and greens.
Why add words to this picture? This was at Rainier, but I'm convinced that someday, I'll have property and a house somewhere where I'll get to see this as often as I want. Either that, or maybe heaven will have this. Who knows. :) I'm fairly certain I'm related to John Denver now or something.
This picture of the pine cone and the one below of the budding tree remind me of pictures that S4J and my uncle D. take. They are naturals at taking amazing photographs of very simple things and drawing the eye to lovely small details. I'm particularly fond of the way the snow caught the light and sparkles around the pine cone. The way the sunshine caused a slight glare around one of the buds on the tree seemed spiritually symbolic to me of new life and the Holy Spirit shining through us to others when we created new in the blood of Christ.
Just in case you are wondering, the kids handled going on their first plane ride(s) beautifully. They navigated through airports, escalators, trams, and moving walkways better that most adults I know, and even the two hour difference in time didn't seem to bother them too much. I, however, was exhausted as I was the one up early, packing, moving heavy stuff, herding them to the proper gates and whatnot. I'd love to take them to Hawai'i sometime. They would handle the travel fine, once they got used to the time change. Until then, we're going to enjoy tooling around in the new car and on our bikes. In an effort to promote getting exercise and saving money on gas, I've made the executive decision that we're riding our bikes to Lil' G's school to drop her off and pick her up this year, weather and time permitting. She's doing great on a kid's bike with training wheels, and this is the setup I've got now for Bud and me:
Just a stock photo -- not anyone that I know. But I got the mountain bike up and running, so now I just have to do some test runs to school to see how long it takes us to get there. One thing I loved about the Tacoma area is that they have over 200 bike trails up there, for all levels of ability and even some designated as family friendly. Where I live simply does not have the same kind of enthusiasm for anything short of NASCAR, high school football, or eating Mexican food. I want my kids to grow up loving the outdoors, animals, exercise, healthy AND yummy food (not that nasty crap that people want you to think is healthy -- I'm talking fresh, real stuff), and not be so used to a fast-food lifestyle and culture. I want to focus less on team sports and extracurricular committments and focus on being active as a family, travelling and experiencing life together, not rushing around eating Cartilage McNuggets in the back of a mini-van on our way to tee-ball, soccer, and dance lessons.
As of tomorrow, I'll be out of pocket for a few days, digging the sand out of hard-to-find places and drinking gin and tonic or rum and coke out of my 64 oz. truck stop mug. I think the kids will be around there somewhere... Just kidding! No need call CPS just yet. I owe you all a good picture of the new member of my family, my Commander, and as promised, the BIG SECRET is about to be unveiled. HisGirl and I are still working on technical difficulties, so please stand by and keep checking back...
